Master of Wine Tim Hanni says wine should be matched ‘to the diner, not the dinner’
Tim Hanni knows how to get wine geeks riled up. He’s a noted wine-business educator, author and one of the first U.S. Masters of Wine, and has long defended the supposedly unsophisticated tastes of consumers drawn to such sweet, mass-market styles as California moscato and white zinfandel, arguing that a predilection for sugar correlates with having more tastebuds and high sensory acuity.
“What he is saying is drop standards and stop educating the customer, just tell them what they want to hear,” protested Jonathan Kleeman, a Britain-based beverage director, on a Facebook wine-study-group page. “Small-minded, lazy, and I hope never to be invited to his dinner table.” More presumptuously, another commenter wrote: “I’m guessing his media clips and page views have been a bit thin lately so he’s decided to get ‘controversial.
And while it’s well-known that sweet foods cause dry wines to fall apart, many a sommelier will instinctively choose pinot noir when presented with duck breast served with cherry sauce. Why? According to Hanni, it’s “because the wine smells like cherry. It’s all B.S. – if the chef doesn’t adjust the salt and the acidity, it’s just going to suck.”
The theory that there is a perfect or best wine choice for any given dish is grounded in the false assumption that food and wine evolved together in France and other European countries over centuries, Hanni says. In fact, wines just developed on their own independently from local cuisine. And Hanni is right about the evolution of European cuisine. Nobody said, “Hey, let’s create boeuf bourguignon as the perfect way to highlight red Burgundy.” Pick any 10 people at random and ask whether they prefer the saucy beef stew with delicate, French pinot noir or instead with smooth, full-bodied California merlot and I bet most would choose the merlot.
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